chronicles from the north, where our two academic mom, one daughter familycrunches its way through life's adventures

21 January 2006

10 by 10, last installment

So this post ends my 100 things...thanks to all of you readers who have put up with 10 days of posts about me, me, me. Tomorrow I'll try to move onto posts that take a slightly wider view of the world, but for now, 10 more fascinating granola tidbits:

91. I frequently leave the milk out on the counter after using it. I also tend to leave cabinet doors open after I've gotten something out. It's my version of being an absentminded professor, I guess. 92. I'm quite amused at the way Politica has taken up these posts. Several times a day, she'll say to me, "You could list X habit!" or "Have you written about Y yet?" She's the one who remembered about the milk-leaving-out habit.93. I learned Norwegian in order to prevent my unspeakably rude soon-to-be-sister-in-law from being able to talk in front of me without my having a clue as to what she was saying. I've undertaken a number of interesting and good tasks for peculiar reasons.94. I'm a big fan of Judith Martin. Good manners rock.95. I have eclectic tastes in classical music. I like Bach, I like Berg, I like Macdowell.96. I've sung in a lot of choirs over time, and one of the things I miss most here in Midwestern City is a choir singing classical music that's not in a church or so small as to exclude people like me with pretty good but not utterly fabulous vocal talents.97. Since I've had a few points here criticizing my mother, I feel compelled to point out that my mother is also a good model of unselfconsciousness and generosity. I've seen my parents uncomplainingly provide wonderful care to their aging parents.98. I'm a total medical wuss who's fainted more than once during a procedure. Most gallingly, I once fainted while getting a cavity filled (my first! at age 25). But what I was thinking was "gosh, this isn't so bad. Everyone was right. It really doesn't hurt." Nothing short of medication seems to intervene in my medical panics. It's made me very tolerant of Curious Girl's outbursts in doctors' offices and very awestruck by CG's ability to cooperate with procedures even while panicking.99. When I was in high school, I asked my teachers to help me think of Good Books and then I set about reading them to Learn Important Cultural Things.100. The assignment I remember most clearly in high school was from earth science, 9th grade, where we worked in groups to put a timeline of the world on a strip of cash register tape. Even after we adjusted the scale several times we still ran out of room at the end. I also remember making ice cream volcanoes to illustrate viscosity. I don't know why I didn't study more earth science in college. Geography is way cool.

2 comments:

It is very cool that Politica has joined in to help you think of things.

Another Judith Martin fan here.

We have a plethora of choirs here (I also have good but nonfabulous talent, and am much more of a backup singer than a soloist). Yet I haven't been able to get myself to join one since J. was born (partly my health issues, partly the demanding rehearsal schedules). I do miss it.

That is the most unusual yet sensible reason for learning a language that I've heard.